EternalDarkness: The Shadow of Empires
by EvilSamDroid9001
Summary: Unbeknownst to America, Canada, and Germany, the other nations of the world have been working against the Eternal Darkness that will soon befall the world on the next Galactic Alignment. If they fail to uncover the clues left by England in the Kirkland Manor, survive the hordes of monsters, and save each other from insanity, the world as they know it will come to an end.
1. Chapter 1: It is your time to be Awesome

The car skidded up along the curb. The blond inside instantly stepped out and slammed the door. He glanced at his clock and swallowed. Shit he was going to be late to his own meeting (as usual) but today was different. Alfred hoped he would have time to mention that surprise he would be bringing up for Christmas. It was December 20th, 2012 and the weather followed suit. They were a dreadful pale white veil of clouds tinted with gray patches that let rain an invisible mist that Alfred's thick pilot jacket protected, like a stone wall, all but his face from the cool, crisp air that cut sharply across his cheeks.. He jogged up the steps of the estate cursing under his breath, (Russia needs to keep General Winter at his place!).

As he stepped inside the building he was greeted by Canada, his brother, and folded over on his knees to catch his breath.

"Hey, did they… lock you out of the meeting on accident, again?" Alfred asked, trying to sound concerned to hide some chuckles.

"No, you're surprisingly early." Matthew said.

"Really?!" The American glanced at his watch. "Oh yeahh… Haha I set my watch ahead of time last night-"

"And you forgot. Nice."

"Kiku taught me that trick. Wait till England sees I'm early." Alfred could barely contain the wide grin on his lips at the thought of it.

For a while they peered into the meeting rooms, where they were being used by America's government officials. When they peered into a particular room, the President and the Cabinet were sipping their glasses of water, giving each other quick glances, one wiped his forehead. The President would look at his watch, his foot tapping to the metronome of the second hand, and every few seconds he would look around instead.

"Ah Alfred, Matthew." The old man rejoiced seeing the Avatar of the Canadian nation. "Where's the Canadian Prime Minister?"

"Oh... he had to use the bathroom. We drove down here." Matthew pointed with his thumb down the hall.

The President let out a sigh of relief. A few minutes later the Canadian Prime Minister walked passed Matthew, and, to everyone's delight, Germany and his boss showed up right behind.

"Luddy, ya made it!" Alfred gave the German great big hug, which the other was prepared for, and was one of the few whose bones didn't crush under Alfred's eager grip.

"Ja- Of course I would be on time. I arrived here a day early."

Alfred gave out a knowing hearty laugh. He put Ludwig down and the German straightened the wrinkles of his uniform, returning it to its impeccable form. For a while the three chatted in a circle about recent affairs, how Prussia was doing, while the world leaders remarked on their children, their wives, and their state of affairs.

By the time thirty minutes passed they received a news update from the Secretary. Several flights across the whole of Europe had been delayed. Alfred snickered, because he could only imagine Arthur as a steaming red tea kettle for being late, clawing his armchair over minor turbulence. But the other two were a bit troubled.

"Well they'll be here eventually. You guys want to play some games at the lounge while we wait?"

"Nien, but thanks for the offer." Ludwig passed as he held up a book he'd brought, _Mien Awesome Diary Vol. 24_.

"I'll play." Matthew volunteered, though he felt a small pit at the base of his stomach. He sent a quick text to everyone asking what was going on and then noticed the signal was dead.

"Hey Al, what's up with the reception here? I can't seem to get any bars."

Alfred took out his phone and held it up. "Huh? That's weird."

Ludwig checked his and only the corners of his lips frowned. "Perhaps we should go outside." And so they did and tested out their theory but to no avail.

"Maybe the tower's down." Alfred whispered. Though he highly doubted this. When his gut started to roll and twist, he shook his head. "Ha-ha let's go back inside. It's getting nippy out here."

For the next few hours Alfred and Matthew played a bit of Call of Duty, leaning back on the nice plump bean bag chairs, while Ludwig sat on striped couch with a cup of coffee at his side in a quiet corner of the room. A secretary had brought five orders of Big Mac combos, which Alfred engorged in a manner of seconds and sipped on his soda, slurping all the little puddles at the bottom of the cup.

The knock on the door paused the game as the three turned their attention to the grim faces of their bosses appear. The President was angry and confused.

"I'm sorry to say, that the World Convention has been canceled. We called up the world leaders through the telephone line... they canceled at the last minute."

"Aw man!" Alfred got up and drank all of the soda in one gulp. "Stupid hurricane. I just reserved the best table at one of Italy's pizza parlors!" He said with pout.

"All of them?" Matthew couldn't believe it and Ludwig slammed his book shut, deep in thought and feeling

It was typical of that Italian, he probably forgot it and took a siesta. He'd have a word with him later. And France well he sometimes didn't feel like being involved. Russia was a flip of the coin as was China. But England and Japan would never do something like that, unless a far more important matter came up, and Ludwig highly doubted it. They'd all planned for this and at those two had better have a good excuse, all of them in fact.

Matthew pat Alfred on the back. "We can still go for pizza."

"Nah, I lost my appetite for it. Let's just get some kebabs." The gleam in Alfred's eyes was gone, and for the rest of the day his head would be facing the floor.

Ludwig made a guttural grunt as he cleared this throat. As inexcusable as this news was he pushed it aside and put a hand on Alfred's shoulder. He gave him a smile.

* * *

They changed out of their stiff suits and put on some casual wear for the evening with light jackets to protect them from the cold. The night was quiet and the sky a purple mucky blob, tinted orange by the faint glow of New York's buzzing lights. Not a single star accompanied the trio that night as they walked around with kabobs wrapped in cheap wax paper, which in a few moments ended up in the trash.

"So Al, what's the surprise you were gonna mention today?" Matthew brought up, it had been on his mind for some time.

Alfred turned his attention from looking at his sneakers. "Oh, I was hoping you know that-"Their stroll through the crowded metropolis was broken by the crying sound of bagpipes.

"Op- That's Artie." Alfred slipped the phone out of his jean pocket and put it to his ear.

"Hello~!"

"Alfred. Look there's not time – "Alfred heard some buzzing in his phone. He cleaned his ear quickly and put it back on. "I need you to – as fast as you can and –"

"Yo Artie, speak up!"

"-with you. Just LISTEN to ME! I'm sorry – time is of –"The call hung up.

"How good is your signal?" Matthew asked.

"It's pitiful." Alfred scowled. He smacked his phone, as if it misbehaved and madly twiddled his thumbs on the screen, going to the settings, and even resetting the phone. He called Arthur again.

"Put it on speaker." Ludwig suggested. The two leaned their heads close to Alfred as he held it out. It ringed three times before an ear splitting sound came from Alfred's phone. All three of them covered their ears, and a nearby car skidded on the turn. Next all they heard were three shots of gunfire and then the line went dead.

When Ludwig and Matthew turned their heads, Alfred already stood in the middle of the street and whistled. A taxi stopped dead in its tracks and if Alfred were human it would've flung his body on impact.

Instead of scolding Alfred for his recklessness, the two instantly got into the back seat of the car and Alfred slammed into the passengers.

"Hey look if choo want to die man..." The taxi driver began, rather nervous as to how any person would almost commit suicide.

"Just shut up and get us to JFK Airport on the double!" A wad of cash was in Alfred's hands.

"You got it boss." The man happily stomped on the gas pedal.

* * *

When they arrived, Alfred quickly flung bills to the driver like a poker dealer and left. All three of them sprinted across the tarmac to Alfred's private hangar with ease and turned on the light.

"We'll take the G6."

The tank was full, Ludwig and Alfred ran some quick specs to make sure everything was ship shape before they got inside. Matthew brought a small crew to help them, and they got the plane out in no time.

"I'll tell our leaders we're gonna get home on our own." Matthew said as he got out his phone and began sending text messages.

"Just hang on back there, it's gonna be a wild ride." In the distance they could see the tall storm clouds that rumbled over the Atlantic Ocean. Matthew buckled himself down.

"We'll manage be there in about five hours." Ludwig remarked.

Alfred bit his tongue. As he increased the speed. "Let's make that four and a half."

The engines whined but the American coaxed the plane and she managed to pull through as he was pushing her to her limits and into the fray.

It was 3:15 in the morning at London City Airport. Thunder bellowed, banging the drum of the sky as it rained chaotically, the wind flinging downpours to and fro. That didn't hinder the three nations as they hailed another taxi all the way to the Kirkland Manor.

The lights in the manor were on. The car came to a slow but Alfred couldn't wait as he left the moving car at the right moment and sprinted up toward the house. Ludwig barked, running behind him when the car stopped, and Matthew handed their driver a couple pounds.

The husky squeaks of Alfred's sneakers echoed throughout the manor before coming to a halt, where a huge puddle formed all over the polished mahogany.

"Arthur?!" His voice echoed throughout the whole house. When no one replied Alfred ran upstairs and tried to open the double doors to the second floor. The knob jingled, but it wouldn't budge. He banged on the wood. "Artie open up goddammit! It's me Alfred!"

Alfred stood back, tapped his foot on the floor before lifting it, ready for a good kick.

"Don't Alfred!" Matthew stood in front and managed to stop him.

"He's got to be upstairs I know it!"

"Then why is it locked?!" Matthew yelled.

"Ruhig sein!" Ludwig barked. The two brothers were tangled and in the midst of pulling each other's hair, Alfred's leg under one of Matthew's arms. They froze in this position

Ludwig turned on his heels and began scanning. All that could be heard now was the echo of a tick-tock from the grandfather clock. It created a beat. A rumble from the storm outside followed at certain intervals. The rain filled the gaps. Ludwig's eyes squinted before smelling something he was all too familiar with and stormed in that direction. Matthew and Alfred stumbled down the grand stair case before following after the German.

The trio walked into a corridor of Arthur's library, before heading into his large study. The gun shots echoed in Alfred's mind. The sound of anything unpleasant happening to Arthur, made Alfred take one large step and then a small hesitant one. What was the worst that could happen to him? (They turned the corner.) He'd been through two world wars and a blitz and was as old as Stone Henge, nothing could be far worse-

"What the fu–"

Puke filled Alfred's gaping mouth as he leaned against the wall, and spewed out everything he'd eaten that day. Matthew's lips twitched and Ludwig felt he'd seen this somewhere before.

Pieces of thin skin and black fabric floated like paper, chunks of raw meat lying in the bloody soup, along with some snaky looking things Alfred hoped weren't intestines. There was a gaping hole in the man's gut, where something had gnawed away at it like it was picking the good parts to eat of what was left of the Brit's head butler. You could see the start of the spine and part of his skull. The rest had been obliterated and drenched in blood.

Cold beads sweat down Ludwig's forehead. He brought forth the hard trained soldier within, knelt down, and began investigating.

"Hmm... interesting."

Alfred wiped his lip gripping on the slippery polished wood. "Artie?!" He croaked. With a good swallow he cleared his throat and began to frantically search, doors trembled open and slammed closed before his wake. He needed to find the Brit more than ever before. "Pops?!" (Damn that didn't work?)

The Canadian broke out of his stone figure. He walked around the study. Arthur's gun was on the floor. Picking it up he pressed the release and the magazine slipped onto the desk.

"Sorry." Matthew said, but Ludwig didn't seem to hear him.

As his hand reached for the magazine, his eye caught sight of the broken fountain pen that spilled its own black blood all over. The nib broke off completely. Right beside it was a letter where the calligraphy looked more like the sharp violent scratches of a seismograph.

He picked it up and began to read.

"_Dear Alfred, Matthew, and Ludwig,_

_ If you are reading this letter, then I've been– "A_ splatter of ink covered up the word_._

_ "I hoped to call you soon in order to explain all this in person. My destiny fast approaches, the Ancients work at hand, and I must pass the torch unto you three. You are our last hope."_

"Ludwig...I found something."

Hearing these key words, the German immediately turned his attention to the letter while Matthew called Alfred back.

"What the hell are you guys doing looking at...?" A green wave passed over Alfred as he saw the puddle of blood before he just told himself to stare away.

"A letter from Arthur."

All three of them read it together.

_ "My apologies that we never told any of you of the burden we carried, but it was on a need to know basis, and we'd hoped that this day would never come, much to our fruitful efforts._

_ The other nations have been captured, and as I write this to you, these forces set their sights on London._

_Find my enchanting room. It's in the library behind the –. There you will find your answers as to what has befallen me and what awaits you. Until you have seen beyond the veil, I cannot describe or even mention what you will find. Know this: The fate of the World depends on it._

_ Monsters will come once you've read the book. Things will change._

_Alfred be strong. No matter what you might see, hear, or feel be strong._

_ Matthew keep your wits about and your brother under your wing. For me. And remember our incantation lessons._

_You boys are my pride and joy._

_ And Ludwig you have my gratitude. If Gilbert were here, he'd tell you, 'It is your time to be Awesome.'_

_ We..."_

The letter remained unfinished.

* * *

**ESD9001: Alright this fic, unlike the other one I posted, is more bout adventure WE GOT TO SAVE THE WORLD (MURICA FUCK YEAH) lols... kinda thing.**

**I was playing this video game and I thought... wow... you could totally do Hetalia to this. And actually I really want to know where this'll go since it's not focused on just a pairing, but more like all the well known characters of Hetalia. **

**If anyone does know the game then I guess this'll be an interesting take since I chose the guys to be Nations rather than Human AU. Also... idk how I'm gonna write the ending XDD compared to the awesome videogame ending... but I got a few ideas.**

**Another change I made was instead of just having one hero (even though technically there are 12), Alexandra was split into three, because I highly doubt someone except with a lot of nerve and intelligence like England could figure this out all on their own.**

**There will be graphic scenes with blood. Idk if I shoulda made it T or M since when it comes to gore it's not as black and white as porn. People react differently to violent or graphic scenes. Just read carefully and know there will be that stuff if you don't like that stuff.**

**Enjoy~!**


	2. Chapter 2: Three Thirty-Three

Alfred's heart beat hard, making his chest stick out and his arms try to reach something. The smell of roses, a hint of cigarette, and the soft breath of Earl Gray, he longed for them. All that was left of that was a letter and a large, ancient, and possibly haunted mansion.

For Ludwig and Matthew they all had a similar reaction, thinking about their older brother, wondering if they were well and whole, and felt betrayed.

"What the heck man? Why did they decide to keep this all a secret?!" Alfred's voice broke the silence.

"I'm sure they had their reasons Alfred. Even here it says, they can't tell us –"

"Damn well Arthur could tell us. But you know him. He's got to _protect us_. I don't need protecting, he clearly needed it!" The American waved his hands in the air. "Next world meeting imma make it a rule, no fucking world secrets!"

"Yeah, I do know him, better than you do!" Matthew shouted. "Whatever this is its clearly dangerous therefore he had every right to keep it from us! Even Papa Francis and Gilbert agreed!"

"Typical. You always defend him." Alfred snarled. The two brothers felt their bodies stiff from the long night, their eyes dry, and their tempers short.

(_It is your time to be Awesome.) _Gilbert's words rang in Ludwig's mind, for he'd only said that twice, at the beginning of World War 1 and the end of World War 2, when his brother and he were separated. To hear them again, made Ludwig's shoulders stiffen, his cornflower blue eyes become cold, and his expression severe, the one Feliciano hated to see but admired the most.

With a careful hand, he folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

"Enough. It has been a long night. We will sleep. Tomorrow we will find this Enchanting Room and see what all of this is really about." He gave out these orders naturally, and both the brothers obeyed. With that Ludwig began to walk back to the Main Hall.

"Uhh about that. We can't sleep in rooms, upstairs is completely locked, and Artie probably lost the key somewhere in this stupid mansion."

"I'll look for it." The Canadian volunteered, feeling he needed some time to think and started on his search. He eventually found the key broken in half in the Living Room. Matthew was surprised and disappointed.

Meanwhile Ludwig hired Alfred to get the cleaning supplies and both of them labored in the study, till the Butler was properly wrapped in a tarp, the desk clean, and the wooden floor immaculate, not a single crust of blood between the cracks. Ludwig stood over the shining floor with his arms crossed and a proud smile. Alfred rubbed his wrists where there was this annoying pain and felt his hands softened by the chemicals, but was thankful that the gruesome death scene was no more.

The three of them made themselves comfortable in the Living Room, one of the few rooms that was unlocked. As they prepared the room, the lights in the manor flickered a bit before turning off all together. Thunder rumbled in response.

A small whimper was heard as Alfred sat down.

"I knew this place was haunted." He whispered.

_Click_

A dim yellow glow emanated from the flame of Ludwig's lighter. The other two came close to it.

"It probably got overloaded." Matthew said.

"Ja. Probably. Where's the circuit breaker?"

"In the basement. Follow me." Matthew and Ludwig began to leave the room and Alfred silently followed. Wherever that lighter went Alfred never let it or the other two out of his sight.

Matthew froze. In front of them lay a blank wall. The Canadian approached it and pressed his hands against the wallpaper, feeling the wall all over. There were no edges, it was perfectly smooth.

"That's... strange. I swore the basement was here." The image flashed in his mind. He recalled when he first visited England's house as a young teenager, right before the war of 1812. He'd also visited last Christmas, this door led to the garden and other parts of the house.

"Maybe you're tired Mat." Alfred tried to sound normal, but his voice betrayed him. Missing basements, light's going out. He shouldn't have watched too many ghost films. Now he felt the house that kept Arthur safe, wasn't safe at all. How his caretaker managed to live with ghosts and poltergeists was beyond his imagination.

"Besides that. It's really odd." Matthew stepped away from the wall. "How else can we get to the basement?" He muttered to himself.

Ludwig let out a long sigh but a knowing smile. "I'm sure Britain doesn't only rely on electricity." The other two followed Ludwig who'd managed to find an oil lamp in the library. There was a meager quarter left and the German charged himself to make sure it was used sparingly till they found more oil.

Before retiring they took a bathroom break and then got a midnight snack for Alfred in the kitchen. Matthew had to tuck his brother into bed with a lullaby until his brother was soundly snoring, his nerves at ease.

"Hard to believe sometimes, your brother is a superpower but inside he's still an innocent child."

"Yeah." Matthew's hands swept the other's hair, while he snored peacefully. "Hard to believe Italy once defeated the Ottoman Empire."

A pleasant chuckle escaped Ludwig's nose. "This is true."

(Italy…)Ludwig began to wonder if Feliciano was involved in this, if he was alright.

A loud yawn dispersed his train of thought.

"You best sleep. I'll wake you up in four hours, after my watch." He said.

Selflessness begged to argue, but Matthew simply nodded and slept on the couch across. His jacket draped over him and Kumajiro snuggled in his arms.

* * *

One hour passed. The storm outside became nothing but a lulling trickle. The clock was ticking, ticking, its pendulum swinging, the Earth slowly spinning. Ludwig opened his drowsy eyes. The fire in the fireplace was small. He got it another log, and prodded the embers around with the poker. When a wave of fatigue hit him, he hung his jacket and did reps of push-ups and sit-ups on a carpet.

Eventually Ludwig visited the library thinking that in Arthur's vast collection he'd find something to keep his mind preoccupied. In fact he became a little curious, perhaps it would tell him something about Arthur himself. His eyes passed the rolling hills of leather binds, gold or silver letters embedded in them with ribbons holding a certain place. He smirked. It seemed the Brit was very fond of fairytales, folklore, and the magical world, no doubt influenced by his brothers. It was the biggest collection.

On the other side though, as Ludwig strolled into a particular section, he quirked and eyebrow.

Freud… Jung… there was a fairly large portion on psychology, dream interpretation. Then right after that, Lovecraft? Just on the other shelf as his lighter passed, the books here were fairly thick and with strange letters on them. Pulling one out Ludwig couldn't find a single word in English or even any other recognizable language. The harder he tried to make sense of it; he started seeing double and quickly put the book back.

Lighting flashed out of the corner of his eye. To his right was a table with a desk lamp. A book was open and it seemed someone had been writing some notes out of it.

On an open page, there was a sketch of a cadaver, dressed in red meat, its bony spine visible. Ludwig blinked his eyes. (Did… did it just move?) When he glanced at it again, it was a still drawing. (No. I must be very tired.) He yawned.

The drawing turned its ugly head. In the dark recesses of its empty, black, soulless sockets two bright red stars burst.

"_Raargh!"_

Ludwig tripped in fright, with one wrong step back, he fell and hit his head on the floor. His hand, which pulled his personal pistol out, pressed the trigger. The bullet flew out the window. Shards of glass shimmered down all over him, shattering like rain violently splashing into puddles. He swore heard the sound of a woman laughing.

* * *

Space, the vastness of it. Alfred loved it as he watched the stars look like little holes of light on a black canvas. He was floating in a space suit outside the ISS. He let the weightlessness carry him, feeling safe, knowing he was tied to the station with a cord.

Or so he thought.

When Alfred turned he saw that line had broken and he could feel something pull him away from the only thing keeping him from floating out into the darkness. Now vast abyss felt malevolent, pulling him away from safety. Alfred tried to his jet pack to push himself back. His thumb madly fidgeting with the button, but nothing worked. He began to paddle frantically, his breath increasing. He knew he shouldn't be doing it, but at this point he wanted anything to work. It felt like he was falling, his heart on the verge of exploding and he had to breath fast to keep up.

No matter how far he reached out, pushing every muscle, extending all parts of his arms and legs, as if he could grow bones at the moment, just to touch the cord that snaked away from him.

Oxygen low and running empty. His screen beeping. His heart beating in erratic palpitations. Eventually he just stood still and let the darkness surround him.

In his sky blue orbs was Earth reflected in them, his beautiful home. He turned right as Venus and Mercury were in front of it. He turned left... so were the other planets. All of them neatly aligned in a row.

Alfred remembered. Today was the day that came every 26,000 years. The Galactic Alignment and he planned to watch it with everyone at his house... but no one came to the meeting. Something happened to all of them.

In the few seconds he blinked, a green wave of energy burst from the sun, like a tsunami of energy and Alfred closed his eyes and shielded his face. At least he'd die quickly.

Matthew woke up on a sheet of ice as the sun set in the Northern Sky. He was wearing his thick coat, Kumajiro at his side as an actual polar bear.

"It's such a shame today is our last day, Matthew." The bear said.

"Kuma, stop saying silly things." Matthew said in a worried tone. When Kumajiro said something cryptic, it often held meaning to it.

"Just watch and stay by me."

Matthew turned his attention as the sun turned pale and set. Its light faded, consumed by the dark blue sky. It was clear that night as he breathed hot air over his gloved hands. Above him he could make out every single star, and map the constellations in a matter of seconds. That's when a green streak of aurora borealis loomed over them.

"They're coming…" The bear looked at Matthew, with the saddest black eyes and a whine.

The Canadian trembled, feeling as if there was nothing beautiful about this phenomena, nothing felt right. Something terrible was going to happen, his heart knew it. It wasn't long before he clutched his stomach, folded over, and cried. Pain searing the stars slowly disappeared in the night sky. He could hear his people scream but why? Who was causing him pain? They were no shots fired, no missiles launched, nor sirens wailed. They were being eaten alive, consumed whole, whipped and clawed at by something horrible but Matthew couldn't see it yet.

Digging his fingers into the ice he forced himself to get up, to fight this.

"How do I stop… it?" Matthew asked, using all his strength to get up.

"You have to wake up. You have to see beyond the veil. Then you will see everything, and you will know. Time is short. If you waste it, everyone will die."

Matthew woke up.

* * *

A bright light burned the German's eyes. He woke up. Outside angry, frustrated, black storm clouds loomed over London. Ludwig tried to hold his head and vision still as it cleared. He could hear the birds sing so clearly and the wind blow. It was bright outside. Perhaps morning, or noon?

He groaned and cursed, wondering how even ended up in the library.

The floor was glittering, with what Ludwig could tell was broken glass. Examining the window there was a whole in one of the highest glass panes.

The image flashed of the monster he'd seen. Ludwig jumped up to the desk. There were no books on the desk. (This... I swore there were books here.) He passed his hands on the many binds of the books. All of them he could read in plain English. He glanced back at the window. He remembered shooting his gun. And that laughter. But everything else contradicted him and he finally agreed he might've made up some things.

Returning to the lounge room he saw that Matthew and Alfred were also just barely waking up, but more like they'd just come out from drowning in a pool.

"- and then I saw this green flash!" Alfred said.

"I saw… something like that too." Matthew put his hand over his mouth, thinking, what could it mean? The brothers had a certain connection of knowing when the other had a terrible dream, one Ludwig was familiar with.

"Me too." He said as he approached the brothers who were gathering their bearings.

"Dude did someone hit you on the head?" The moment Alfred finished his sentence, he pulled out his gun, waiting for whoever hit Ludwig.

"Nien... I thought I saw something and I woke up on the floor." That was all Ludwig was willing to admit. "It was a trick of the light."

"Oh, what time is it?" Though Alfred asked, they all pulled out their phones. All of them were dead. "Shit. We must've left them on."

Ludwig checked his wristwatch. When he glanced at it, he let out a small gasp. "According to my dead watch... it's 3:33."

Tapping the glass the clock didn't seem to move. In fact now that he paid attention to it, the house was eerily quiet. He couldn't hear the tick-tock of the grandfather clock. They all turned their heads toward it. One hand at 12, the other at 6 and one at 3 and it didn't seem to move at all.

Matthew came up to the clock that was in a rather odd location on the wall. He noticed two thing cuts on the floor right next to it. He opened the access panel of the clock. With a finger he spun the hands.

_Click._

The other two quickly stood behind Matthew hovering over his shoulder. With just enough force he swung the pendulum.

The wall rumbled before it finally moved and it revealed a secret hallway. Slow but cautions steps were taken as the three of them entered the Enchanting Room.

"Dude, Artie seriously needs to get some new hobbies." Alfred said as they entered the room. It was dark, only lit by some three wax candles on one wall.

From what little light these candles gave and the daylight that tried to creep its way into the hall, they could make out a large tome sitting on the desk. There were paintings hung on the wall, a single bookshelf, books scattered everywhere, a large map with a spider web of yarn sprawled on all four corners, pictures taped, news articles beside them. There were even old tawny colored pieces of parchment, some were flaking away from the years.

"You know Arthur, he likes a good parlor trick." Matthew said, as they proceeded to approach the desk.

Once again Alfred could feel something come up from his stomach, but luckily he just let out some gas. "Sorry." His hand covered his eyes and he only peeked through a little sliver.

The other two weren't too disturbed by a measly burp. They were disturbed by the book. Its cover was made of human skin, there was no mistaking it. And the spine, was a literal human spine. A round ornament made out of human teeth decorated the cover with a seal made out of what they hoped was just blood colored wax. There was a marking on it.

All three of them were spell bound as their hands reached out to touch it and when they moment they did, visions flashed in their mind, memories that weren't their own with familiar faces, flashes of green, blue, and red, places they'd never seen, and then three shots of a gun.

When they awoke from their trance, they were all gasping for air, their pupils small and frightened. They could now hear the wandering whispers in their ears that were crying, begging, laughing, and screaming in agony. The world slowly warped when they turned their heads as if they were drunk. A couple minutes passed and the effects wore off.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"I don't know… but we have to read that book." Matthew said remembering that they had to do this, to be strong, that time couldn't be wasted.

"No, no, no I'm not reading… that thing!" Alfred pressed himself against the wall. "It touched my mind, and I feel like… like nothing makes sense anymore! If this was so fucking important... what happened in there... that's something I needed to know like not at the last minute?!"

Ludwig picked Alfred up by his collar and pressed him against the wall, even though his hands were shaking a little. "You are going to read this, and together we're going to figure out exactly what is going on. Those were our instructions. You saw what I saw! Everyone, our friends, took part in this… sacrificed effort into this. You are the United States. Grow some balls!"

As the two nations were locked in a stare off, Alfred could see Ludwig was afraid, very afraid, just as he was. But he was also willing to go through things he didn't understand. And Ludwig knew that inside Alfred, beyond the child, there was a fire, an untamable fire of freedom and liberty, and to preserve those very ideas no matter what the cost. With that they reach a silent accord.

They took the book out into the daylight of the library and sat down at a table. When they opened it. The first chapter was written in Latin, but soon the letter quickly changed into each nation's dominant language. They read.

"_I had no knowledge of what was to come… nor did I care. How the knowledge changed me, it will also change you. As you read this, you will come to learn fear as I have. You too will come to understand… or you will perish."_


End file.
